Hidden links for robots

[pelachrum]

Obviously it's not such a good idea to have your links as images or wrapped up in javascript when it comes down to robots digging into your page

this is what I have for one of my projects though, both of those things combined

what would you suggest as a workaround?
invisible text links? even though you can't see it I don't like the idea of people accidently selecting it or something

from the standpoint of robots, what do they tolerate and will follow without it being too much intrusion into user's interaction with the page?

[walkman]

I suggest you create a sitemap and don't even think of hidden links. You might get away for a while, but they will catch you

[Stefan]

Agreed with walkman. You're playing with fire if you try that. They might be recognized as existing only for bots, and then either disregarded, or worse, cause you to be penalized and shuffled off to oblivion. (Of course, if it's a quick dash-and-grab money-making thing, you might get away with it long enough to collect the hoped-for cash.)

[pelachrum]

thanks for tips

...here's my deilemma though
the whole website has only about 5 pages
creating a sitemap would be a bit cynical in this case

this is not a quick thing though so you're right, cheating might not be an option

I was wondering what techiniques people use out there on a project of this size to blend the links in, in a way that's both esthetical and bot safe

[walkman]

I wonder if you're just pulling our leg or not. If you have five pages, how about linking them from the front page? Open for all to see.

[jdMorgan]

> wrapped up in javascript

There's always the standard <noscript> tag, intended for clients that don't support JavaScript...

Jim

[caveman]

What walkman said. Just add a second set of links at the bottom or something.

If for some reason that's not possible, try to make the site map seem valueable, beyond its function as a site map. (hint, hint)

[Stefan]

I was wondering what techiniques people use out there on a project of this size to blend the links in, in a way that's both esthetical and bot safe

:-)

Five pages, eh? I would make one of them the index.htm, and then link from there to the other 4 pages, intending those 4 pages to be main-category second-level pages for future additions (and link them all back to the index). Of course, with 5 pages you could interlink between all of them. But either way, you need a few more pages.

So, the obvious question - is the site really just a launchpad for a bunch of outbound links created for reasons better left undiscussed?

[Stefan]

Added: After rereading my post above, I attempted to edit out the last paragraph, but it was too late. Excuse my lack of discretion, pelachrum, and please disregard the question. (It's none of my business why you're doing it).

[pelachrum]

I'm not planning on taking over the world through a neverending list of links, no

it's actually a quick project "just for now" in the future it may possibly grow into a deeper website

I guess I won't stress this issue too much and just submit all links to search engines periodically